Garba garbad at CEPT: Part I

October 10, 2013

Its truly disheartening and disappointing – what is happening at School, and CEPT.

Navratri has always been a point to look forward to for all who are associated with CEPT. There is a lot of energy and students are willing to go the extra mile by making decorations, manning the gates and in general, dancing and yet showing up for regular classes/ submissions. Many alumni plan to visit school and meet during this time. Faculties, past students, their children, all come and everyone has fond memories of learning or teaching garba, warm atmosphere, glowing diyas, enhanced by some of the young children coming back as students.

For many years, the profits made during Navratri were able to support the Students’ Festival held in February each year. So it always was a big event, smaller in stature only to the once hot rock shows. Only for Navratri it was easy to get sponsorship. Those who are not from CEPT, are always eager to drop by; and passes to CEPT Garba, as they are available in very limited numbers, are endowed with privilege, and difficult to come by. People who are otherwise pricey will recognise the obligation of the one who got them an entry.

When passes were expensive and there was a cap on the number of people students could bring in, there was always the temptation to create fakes, or work around the system by using the same pass twice. Some students knew the places where the campus boundaries were porous and where one could get an illegal entry or transfer the pass once used. Also because of the same, those involved in checking the security would always keep checking the perimeter during any events.

In the beginning, they put students from each school on campus to ascertain the alumni and students were not finding a false entry at the gates. Those guys sacrificed their garba time to do this duty. Most student sentries overlooked alumni getting a couple friends or family members under the names of their batch-mates; also recent past students using their student id cards to gain entry. All in all, the system worked on trust and was loosely monitored. But that changed this year.

This year, someone thought of shaking that trust. Of creating fake passes and selling them for a profit.

There are more skeletons in the CEPT closet… Part II will break your heart if you loved School.